


a (birth)day in the life

by CadetDru



Series: you say it's your birthday [1]
Category: What We Do in the Shadows (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Birthday, Disappointment, Existential Angst, Familiars, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Human/Vampire Relationship, M/M, Mario Kart References, Pining, Pre-Canon, Vampire Turning, Vampires, canon-typical nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:29:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26391208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadetDru/pseuds/CadetDru
Summary: Guillermo's 21st birthday1: midnight to dawn2: dawn to noon3: noon to dusk4: dusk to midnight
Relationships: Guillermo de la Cruz & Jeremy, Guillermo de la Cruz & Nandor the Relentless, Guillermo de la Cruz/Nandor the Relentless
Series: you say it's your birthday [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1919545
Comments: 20
Kudos: 27





	1. midnight to dawn

At midnight, the alarm on Guillermo's watch went off, and a couple notifications came in on his phone. He put down the duster he'd been holding and The small smile that he'd had all night widened. He glowed with a smug happiness that Nandor hadn't seen before.

Nandor frowned. He was reading while Guillermo was attending, in general, to Nandor's desires. There was a lot of dusting. Guillermo had been underfoot since dusk, looking at Nandor when he thought Nandor couldn't see him. "What's all that donging and whatnot about?" 

Guillermo squared his shoulders. "It's officially my birthday."

Nandor didn't look towards Guillermo. "Congratulations, how many years?"

"Twenty-one," Guillermo said, trying to give the age the weight he thought that it deserved. This was it, this was the night that Nandor was going to turn him into a vampire, to take him to bed/coffin, to do...something.

Nandor paused. "So young," he said, his voice flat.

"Yes," Guillermo said, not sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Nandor did look at Guillermo then. "But so mature."

"Thank you, Master." It had to be a good sign, didn't it? 

"You have so many years of life yet," Nandor said.

Guillermo didn't respond right away. He couldn't breathe. His heart was breaking in his chest. He didn't have that many years of actual, living and breathing life yet. He couldn't. "What, Master?"

"I don't think I knew how young you were," Nandor said. It was almost an accusation.

Guillermo's grin was gone. He was completely and utterly crestfallen. "That's the whole point," Guillermo said. "I've been with you for months, for years now, and I'm not that young any more..."

Nandor stood and walked over to Guillermo. He put a hand on each shoulder, making sure he had Guillermo's full attention. "You are very young," he said. It felt like he was trying to tell Guillermo something more, something that Guillermo didn't want to hear.  Nandor kissed Guillermo's forehead. "Happy birthday," Nandor said, letting Guillermo go.

"Thank you, Master," Guillermo said, the words little more than a reflex. Nandor had kissed him. That was basically a real kiss.

"Vampires experience a hundred lifetimes, so much more than you've had so far. You're lucky to be with me, Guillermo." Nandor sighed, just for the effect of it. "And I am lucky to have you. Hopefully I can keep you for a while longer."

Guillermo smiled again. Nandor was definitely, probably, maybe trying to seduce him, or just announce his lascivious intention, or something. His master was just testing him. It was so hard to know what Nandor meant sometimes. It might not be that night, or the next, but Nandor was going to turn him into a Vampire. He just had to prove that he'd lived enough, maybe?

Maybe not. Maybe another year.

As they got closer to dawn, he helped his master into bed as he did every night. Unlike every night, he went up to the roof to watch the sunrise. Every time he thought that he was hitting some important milestone, getting closer to being turned into a vampire, he made sure to watch the sunrise. 

One day, it would be his last. Maybe not today, but soon. The golden light bathed him. He closed his eyes and looked forward to the morning where he would never experience it again.


	2. dawn to noon

Guillermo stayed on the roof until it was fully morning. When he came back into the house. He checked that no sunlight was coming through, as he made his way through the house. His birthday present to himself was hanging up in his room: a coat that just happened to be a cape. It almost blended in with Guillermo's normal wardrobe. It was perfectly normal, perfectly reasonable.

He tried it on. There weren't a lot of mirrors in the house, but enough that he could take a look at himself in it in different rooms, in different light. He wore it while he made himself some breakfast. Frantically hung it up so it wouldn't get stained or wrinkled from his breakfast. He made some sleepy-time tea instead of more coffee.

Text notifications had tapered off; people were either asleep or going about their day. Most of them knew that Guillermo worked nights.

Guillermo’s friends and family had gotten the impression that he was a live-in caretaker for an elderly man with some kind of cognitive disorder. Guillermo worked overnights to make sure the man was happy, healthy and safe; he couldn’t go outside on his own at all during the day. It wasn’t really a lie. Guillermo had kept this going for months.

His mother was proud of him for doing God's work.  Guillermo never knew what to do with that thought.

He let himself fall asleep for a few hours, dreaming of never waking up as a human again. 


	3. noon to dusk

Guillermo had set an alarm for noon so he could spend his birthday actually awake. He had thought of that when it seemed more likely that Nandor thought he was ready to be a vampire. His last day in the daylight. He tried not to think of that too much. Nandor had kissed his forehead. He had a cape. Things were lining up, they had to be. 

Guillermo decided to head out to the liquor store before going to his mother's house. He wasn't entirely certain when they opened, where he could get what he was looking for. He just wanted red wine; it was going to be his first legal alcoholic beverage and hopefully his last human drink. He was going to save it for later. He was going to celebrate with his family. Just a quiet dinner, he'd asked for. Afterwards, some friends from high school.

He didn't need his new cape-coat. He wasn't confident enough to wear it anyway. 

He wandered the liquor store aisles. Hard lemonade seemed about right for hanging out with the "boys" from high school. It wasn't going to be a big deal, but it was an excuse. Jeremy, probably Rodney, definitely Matt, probably Terry. Guillermo grabbed a six pack; that would be more than enough.

Guillermo might never see them again after he became a vampire. Maybe Terry. Terry might be an okay familiar. Rod would be terrible. Jeremy would either try too hard or not at all. Guillermo absolutely refused to rank his friends in terms of potential vampire food. That would be the same when he became a vampire, whenever that ended up being. It couldn't be too long. 

At his mother's house, he was no good. There was a cake, whose flavor he didn't remember. There was family, who he absolutely couldn't remember. He hadn't slept enough. He didn't pay enough attention, didn't answer questions fast enough. 

His mother forgave him because he was tired from doing such good work for that poor, poor, old, old man. She knew that Guillermo was running himself ragged. She wanted him to take better care of himself: what good would he do this sad man if he was half-dead himself.

He left early, with cake for his employer, to take another nap.


	4. dusk to midnight

Guillermo hadn't woken up from his own nap when Nandor awoke.

"Guillermo," Nandor called sharply. Guillermo got off his bed in his crumpled clothes.

Nandor was in his coffin, lid open. Waiting. Guillermo felt a mix of disgust, annoyance, and affection bubble up in his stomach. He'd never been disgusted by Nandor's reliance on him before.

"Did you have a good birthday?" Nandor asked, voice pitched a little higher than usual. 

"Yep," Guillermo said brightly. "And it's still happening. About to head out, see the old high school gang." Nandor frowned a little as Guillermo bid him a good night, promising to be back by dawn. Guillermo moved fast before any forehead kisses could be given.

Jeremy insisted that they go to Chili's first, get some apps and drinks. Guillermo had eaten at his mother's. Jeremy insisted. He wanted to do Guillermo's birthday right. Jeremy was set on birthday Mario Kart being a thing, excited about playing it tournament style.

Guillermo drank sugary drinks, frozen concoctions that stung. "I can't drive drunk," he told Jeremy.

The boys laughed. "You didn't drive here," Terry said. 

"No, like... Mario Kart," Guillermo said. "That'd be drunk driving. You should just drop me off at my house."

More laughter. More not going back to the vampires' house. Guillermo wasn't as intoxicated as he thought, which was just annoying and a reflection on the quality of Chili's bartender.

They played, and shouted, and played, and drank the hard lemonade that Guillermo had bought, and played. Jeremy suggested spin-the-bottle and finally got shouted down. It didn't turn into a full-on slumber party, but people stuck around until late into the night. Guillermo was tired, but willing to keep playing with the sound turned down. 

"You okay?" Jeremy said. Terry was snoring on the couch behind them. They were sitting on the floor, focused on the game. 

Guillermo shrugged. "Thought there was a chance for a promotion, a way out of just being this caretaker, and I thought I needed to be twenty-one but I guess it's more actual years of experience of something."

"That sucks," Jeremy said.

"Yeah," Guillermo said. "I just need to prove myself. I need to find a way to become the old man they want to see."

Jeremy laughed. "Less T-shirts, more cardigans?"

"That could work," Guillermo said. He stretched, blinked, yawned. "Speaking of which, I should go home."

"It's not even midnight. You have a little bit of birthday left."

Guillermo considered and shrugged. "Yeah, I just need to leave by like five o'clock."

Jeremy nodded. "We can do that."


End file.
